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Show Summit Park girl wins pageaot by ROBIN MOENCH Record staff writer The judges had a tough decision to make Saturday night. Of the 14 smiling young women who stood before them for a final review in the crowded Kimball Art Center, Main Gallery, only one could be crowned Miss Summit County 1985. The contestants in the Miss Summit County Scholarship Pageant had met the scrutiny of the four state-registered Miss America pageant pa-geant judges in swimsuit and evening gown competitions. They had been tested for poise in interviews. And they had pooled their talents in a group musical production called "How You Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm?" After an individual talent competitionin competi-tionin which each girl was given just two minutes, 40 seconds to show her stuff jazz and ballet dancers, a singer, and even a saxophone player jostled for position on the judges' tally sheets. The talent portion of the contest 1 r?' ' x $ri I I cpT" Miss Summit County, Cheryl Perry, settles her crown. counted 50 percent toward the contestants' total score. At stake was a $1,000 scholarship to be awarded to the winner. The first runner-up would receive at $300 scholarship, the second runnerup, a $200 scholarship, and the third runner-up, a $100 scholarship. Each non-finalist would be given a $25 scholarship. No one would lose, but someone would reign one year as the county's representative before civic groups and in parades and would earn the right to compete in the Miss Utah pageant next spring and perhaps go on to Atlantic City and the Miss America contest the following September. The judges Don and Carrie Herrin (Orem), Rhea Kissel (Murray) (Mur-ray) and Vicki Keller (Heber) hesitated hesi-tated a long moment as the girls waited in suspense. Mistress of ceremonies Gina Larsen, Miss Utah 1985, and Laura Baker, who would soon give up her crown as Miss Summit County 1984, whispered together in the wings, nearly near-ly as nervous as the contestants as family and tnends in the audience sat hushed, fingers on the shutter buttons of their flash cameras. Finally auditor Kurt Peterson, after carefully counting and recounting recount-ing the figures on the judges' sheets, handed the results to Miss Utah. And in an announcement that was barely audible above a chorus of cheers and squeals, Kristin Swen-son, Swen-son, 17, daughter of Nancy and Val Swenson of Pinebrook, was named third runner-up; Holly Daines, 17, daughter of Renee and Lynn Daines of Pinebrook, was named second runner-up; and Gina Blonquist, 24, daughter of Afton and Eugene Blonquist of Coalville, was named first runner-up. Then Cheryl Perry, 17, a recent graduate of Judge High School in Salt Lake City and daughter of Karen and Ron Perry of Summit Park, accepted Laura Baker's tiara and congratulatory hug to begin her reign as Miss Summit County 1985. She cried. And she smiled. Then ( she looked for her father in the ! crowd. Sharlene Wells, look out. |
